House Too Tight? Not Likely

In this season of airing linens, opening windows and putting up screens, the subject of a tight house isn't really pressing. But if you start now, you can get yourself ready for a tighter, less energy-hungry house next winter, ant-and-grasshopper style, while your neighbors are all atwitter about poisoning their crabgrass.

The basics of tightness are not too tough, even for non-techies who don't do carpentry. In New England, barring new, super-sexy LEED or Energy Star homes, it's difficult to achieve "too-tight" status in an existing, conventionally constructed house. I've seen too-tight skirts and too-tight sweaters causing problems for passing traffic, but houses can get very tight without causing much trouble if you know the secret.

And here's the secret: start from inside the house. There you go. The house in the photo, which by the way is actually in Bulgaria, is open to the air in every way possible, and, as a questionable result, will probably never rot and fall down. Accumulated moisture is the root cause of most "sick" buildings, and of most structural and health-threatening rot in residential construction.
Start inside the house, reducing the escape of moist air into walls and ceilings in winter, and you will also, happily, be reducing the source of trapped moisture that produces dry rot, mold, insect damage and peeling paint.

Caulk. Learn to caulk. If you can't learn to caulk, learn to wipe up caulk. That will do for a start.
Find the gaps in your walls, floors and ceilings and fill them (within reason-- up to 1/4 inch gaps, rule of thumb) with an appropriate type and color of caulk. Use paintable caulk on your house's interior; true silicone is a wonderful product, but it looks like poo when you can't match the color, and it REALLY won't take paint.

Foam. Learn to foam. But don't try to wipe up foam. It's not like caulk. Use foam for gaps too large for caulk, and if you havc some large gaps visible from inside your house, don't hang your head in shame. It's no disgrace to have large gaps, it's only a disgrace not to fill them.

Weatherstrip. Learn to weatherstrip. Make old doors and windows tighter, not with paint (unless you're desperate and you're REALLY SURE you'll never have to open that window/door/access panel again) but with those nifty engineered strips and flaps that allow things to move without being drafty.

Well done. And equally helpful, by the way, during cooling season if you use air conditioning. Next time we'll delve a little into the wall/moisture/tightness question so you can see what all the fuss is about.